Amnesia
by tsuki-llama
Summary: A routine investigation becomes anything but when Misaki accidentally bumps into Li while tracking down another contractor.
1. Chapter 1

"Well, thanks for grabbing dinner with me," Misaki said with a smile. "Sometimes I just don't feel like sitting alone, you know?"

Li shrugged. "Sure. It was fun."

She'd bumped into him on her way to McDoness; despite his friendly greeting, there'd been such a lonely attitude about him that she'd invited him to join her. In any case, she always liked spending time with Li, and they seemed to bump into each other more and more often these days. Misaki could hear Kanami's voice in her head, trying to persuade her that that meant that he was interested and she should ask him out; but she hadn't been able to bring herself to do it.

She couldn't deny that he was cute, with his deep blue eyes and kind smile. But they had nothing in common. She had a career that she was devoted to; he worked hard, yes, but he seemed to have no ambition in life beyond simply getting by. He never even sounded all that enthusiastic about his studies, whenever she managed to turn the conversation in that direction. Really there was no point in their conversations at all.

But sometimes, she thought that she caught a glimpse of something lurking just behind his friendly exterior, something that he was hiding. At first she'd been convinced that it was something illegal - he was just too closed off around her, despite his open smile. But the more time she spent with him, the more she'd begun to realize that it was something else. Something…sad; sorrowful even. They didn't know each other well enough for her to feel comfortable asking him about it, but it fascinated her all the same.

Maybe that was the attraction, she mused. She'd never been able to resist a puzzle.

But puzzles didn't make her heart beat faster whenever they smiled at her.

"So do you have classes this afternoon?" she asked, trying to distract herself.

He shook his head. "Work."

"I see. Are you still at that Chinese place?"

"Yeah. The pay's good, and they let me take leftover food home after my shift."

"That's a bonus," Misaki said with a grin. "Where are you going?"

He'd taken a left-hand turn down a narrow, shadowy alley between two tall office buildings. "Short cut to the restaurant," he shrugged.

Misaki frowned. "This doesn't go all the way through to the street, does it?"

"It twists a little," Li admitted, "and you have to turn down a cross street. But it's still faster than going around the block."

It annoyed her that he seemed to know her city better than she did herself - and he'd only been here for a few months. "Well, I'll walk with you; this doesn't look like a very safe area. I don't want you to get mugged."

An amused expression flashed across his face, but he didn't protest. They continued into the alley together. It was quite narrow; there was barely enough room to walk side by side, but she wasn't about to complain. It was almost cozy.

"Have you been able to find that suspect you were looking for?" he asked conversationally. "The one who set that fire?"

She really shouldn't have told him the details about that case, but his way of listening without trying to offer his own opinion made him such a great sounding board that she'd often found herself slipping like that. "No," she said, and meant to leave it at that. But before she could stop herself, she continued, "We're close though. I'm actually in the neighborhood to check up on a lead - I just got hungry first." She smiled sheepishly.

Li smiled back, and her heart skipped a beat. "I, uh, wanted to ask you something," he said, a faint blush creeping into his cheeks as he turned from her.

"What is it?" She was tempted to reach for his hand, but that would be far too forward of her. Instead, she folded her arms as if she was cold, although it was a warm day.

"Um, do you…" he began; then his eyes widened slightly at something ahead of them, and she caught it too - a sudden flash of synchrotron radiation. On instinct she stepped in front of Li and reached for her weapon. But before she could pull it out, Li had shoved her from behind. Something whooshed over her head as she fell and she heard Li grunt; then he hit the ground beside her.

Misaki pushed herself up, ignoring the gravel and bits of grime digging into her hands, just in time to see a blond-haired man sprint down the alley in the opposite direction. _Shit_ , she swore to herself, and prepared to leap up and chase after him - then she saw Li. He was lying on his side, eyes closed. "Shit," she said, out loud this time, and bent over him. "Li, are you alright?"

She felt his neck for a pulse: steady. That was good. But what was wrong? That contractor must have hit him with something, but she saw no blood, no wound. "Li," she said, shaking his shoulder. His eyes fluttered open, unfocused. "Are you okay? Hang on, I'll call -"

It happened so fast she didn't have time to react. Li rose up in one motion and lunged at her. Catching her around the neck with one hand he pushed her bodily into the wall of the alley. Instinctively she reached for her holster, but he pinned her hand with his other before she could grab it. She grasped helplessly at the arm that was pushing her against the bricks and slowly cutting off her air supply, but he was immovable. "Li," she croaked, "what…"

"Who are you?" he bit out, his eyes dark and cold, no trace of his usual friendliness in his voice. "What were you doing?"

 _What the hell is going on?_ Misaki thought, struggling to control her panic. "Li -" she tried again, but he cut her off.

"Answer the question," he demanded in a low, dangerous tone.

Cold terror crept up her spine. This wasn't Li; what had that contractor done? "Kirihara Misaki," she said, her throat dry from fear. "Chief of Foreign Affairs, Section Four."

His eyes narrowed. "What is that."

"Police," she managed to get out.

"Police?" The pressure against her throat increased.

Shit. She had hoped that that answer would calm him down, but it was having the opposite effect.

"What were you doing?" he demanded.

"Li, please -"

"Why are you calling me that?" He was getting angry, and she had no idea why. "Do you know me?"

"Yes, I know you. We're friends."

"Friends," he said flatly, as if he didn't believe her. But his grip loosened the tiniest bit.

"We were attacked in this alley," Misaki explained hoarsely. "You pushed me out of the way and got hit with - with something. I think you must have hit your head; it's affected your memory." It had affected a hell of a lot more than that, but even if she explained about contractors, she had no way to explain this sudden personality transplant.

"I pushed you out of the way," he repeated, almost scornfully. "Why?"

"Why?" What kind of a question was that? "We're _friends_ \- I stepped in front of you to block the hit but you reacted faster. Li, please, let me go. We need to get you to a hospital to get checked over, then I need to call this in and start a search for the man who attacked us."

For a moment he didn't move, and Misaki had a sudden fear that he might actually hurt her; then the pressure around her throat vanished as he let go. She sucked in a deep breath and stayed where she was, against the wall, lest her knees give out. She brought her hand up to massage her neck; Li twitched at the movement and she froze. Then she continued to move her hand, more slowly, as he watched warily. She could feel the bruises already beginning to form.

"How are _you_ feeling?" she asked, despite the fact that he had neither asked about her wellbeing nor apologized for threatening her.

"Headache," was all he said; then, apparently deciding that she wasn't going to attack him, he shifted his gaze from her and looked up and down the alley. His whole body was tense, as if he was expecting to get jumped at any moment. "Where is this?"

"Alley behind the Shinjuku ward office," she told him. "We were taking a shortcut your restaurant."

"Restaurant?"

"Where you work." Damn, this was bad. How much of his memory had he lost? Or _was_ it memory loss? It was as if her Li had been replaced by an entirely different person. She needed to get in contact with her team, get this sorted out - but she didn't want to take out her phone, jumpy as he was. The last thing she wanted was to have to pull her weapon on him.

He was still gazing towards the street, a slight frown on his otherwise dark face. "What city is this?"

"What - Tokyo."

"Tokyo?" The anger was rapidly being replaced by bewilderment. Misaki almost reached out a comforting hand, but thought better of it at the last moment.

"Yes," she said. "Can you - can you tell me your name?"

"Name? You called me Li. That…that sounds right." It didn't _look_ like it sounded right, but she decided not to press the issue.

"Okay, Li," she said, noticing that he flinched a little at the name. "Do you remember coming to Tokyo at all?"

He shook his head slowly.

"What's the last thing that you do remember?"

"I - I was with my sister and -" he broke off suddenly, eyes wide. "My sister - where is she?" He looked wildly up and down the alley, as if another person could possibly be hiding in the narrow space.

"Sister?"

"She has to be here, she's not safe on her own -"

Misaki touched his arm, hoping to calm him down. It was a mistake; he jerked away as if he'd been burned. "I'm sorry, Li," Misaki said, taking one step back from the anger in his eyes. "Look, just calm down and we'll figure out where she is, okay?"

He ran his hand through his hair, looking desperate. "Alright," he said. "Alright. You said we were walking - was she walking with us?"

"No," Misaki said carefully. "I've never met her. Actually, you told me once that you don't have any family."

"I told you…" he began, frowning; then his expression darkened. "You said we were friends, but you don't know my sister."

She didn't miss the threat in his tone. "No. I don't know why you've never talked about her. Look, let me drive you to the hospital and -"

"No!" he said sharply. "I don't need a doctor. I just need to find Bai."

"Maybe she's at your place," Misaki tried. "Where do you live? Try your wallet," she added at his blank look.

Li reached into his back pocket and pulled out a shabby, flat wallet. Inside was a handful of cash, a laminated school ID card, and nothing else. He removed the card from the sleeve and stared. "Li Shengshun," he read.

"Is that not your name?"

"It's close enough," he muttered, as if to himself. "University of Tokyo."

Misaki nodded. "You're a foreign exchange student there. Do you remember anything about that?"

He didn't answer. He continued staring at the card, the blood draining from his face.

"Li? What's wrong?" Once again she was tempted to reach out and squeeze his arm; this time she thought better of it.

"This says…it was issued in January, two thousand eight."

"That's probably when you started school here," Misaki said. "You've only been in the city for a few months, I know that much."

"Two thousand eight," he repeated.

"Li," Misaki slowly, "what is the last thing that you remember?"

He ran a hand through is hair again, looking almost frightened. "I was with my sister and…another friend. We were on a farm. Nowhere near Japan. But it was two thousand _three_." He sank into a crouch, as if he no longer had the energy to stand. "Amber - could she - but why. And without Bai…she wouldn't."

Misaki slowly lowered herself down next to him.

"Tokyo," he said suddenly. "There's a Gate here too. Strange things happen around the Gates, right?"

He was grasping for straws, clearly desperate to understand what had happened. At first his use of the plural _Gates_ threw her, but then she remember that, five years ago, Heaven's Gate had still been in existence. "Yes," she said. "But whatever happened to make you lose your memories has nothing to do with the Gate; we were attacked here in the alley, and you hit your head."

"That's right," he said, his eyes narrowing and body tensing. Misaki felt an instinctive urge to draw her gun. "Who was it?"

"I didn't get a good look; but I'm pretty sure he's connected to a case that I'm working on."

"He was after you, then."

Misaki raised an eyebrow. "Of course. Is there any reason why he would be after you?"

"How should I know."

But Misaki didn't quite believe him. "Alright," she said, "I'm not going to force you to go to the hospital, but you're in no condition to be wandering around the city alone. Let me at least walk you home." His address was on his ID card; it wasn't far. But she had no intention of letting him alone until he was back to himself again. If they were lucky, that contractor's attack would wear off with time. If they weren't…she had no idea what to do then. "And who knows, maybe something there will jog your memory."

He stood suddenly, startling her so much that she almost fell over. "I'm fine on my own." Giving her a cold look of dismissal, he turned on his heel. Exactly three steps later, he stopped. Misaki stood and folded her arms, waiting. At last, he turned, shoulders hunched. "Which way is it?"

"I'll walk you there," she repeated. Without waiting for answer, she turned and headed the opposite way down the alley. After a moment, however, she still didn't hear the expected footsteps. She looked over her shoulder - and started at the sight of Li directly behind her, keeping pace on silent feet. She moved so that they were walking side by side; having him behind her like that, stalking silently, made her distinctly uncomfortable. He was so cold, so closed-off - almost like a contractor. But no, that wasn't possible - contractors couldn't be made by other contractors; it didn't work that way. At least, she'd never heard of it working that way. And he was cold, yes, but also angry. Contractors never lost their calm.

"Do you mind if I make a quick phone call?" she asked.

"Who?" he asked sharply.

Misaki kept her voice even, annoyed that he was attempting to intimidate her, and even more annoyed that it was working. "One of my subordinates. We need to start tracking the attacker."

Beside her, Li gave a half shrug as if he didn't care, but she could tell that he was still listening. She pulled out her phone, and dialed. "Saitou," she said when the detective answered, "I need to know what stars were active in the vicinity of the Shinjuku ward office, about half an hour ago. Once identified have Astronomics track him; close in if possible. I've got to take care of something, but call me if you find anything out."

As she ended the call, she realized that Li was no longer beside her. She turned, and saw him several paces behind, staring at her with hooded, suspicious eyes. "What's wrong?" she asked, tempted yet again to have her gun in her hand.

"Stars," he said flatly. "You investigate contractors?"

Misaki walked back to him, careful not to get too close. "Yes," she said in a hushed voice, lest the few other people on the street hear. She didn't ask how he knew about contractors; she doubted that he would tell her. "Now come on, we need to get going."

"The man who attacked us in the alley - he was a contractor." It wasn't a question; Misaki could see that the events of the past hour were starting to slide into place for him. _Was_ this man in front of her still Li, just without his recent memories? She had trouble believing that Li knew anything about contractors, and yet…she'd always known that he was hiding something.

After eying her hard for a other full minute, he started walking again. His arms were held loose at his sides, and his gaze flicked often from side to side, up and down the street. It was like walking next to a ticking time bomb.

"Do we work together?" he asked abruptly.

"No," Misaki said. "We just…run into each other a lot."

"Then why are you helping me?" There was no gratitude in the question; only suspicion.

"It's my job," Misaki said shortly. "And I told you - we're friends."

He still looked as if he didn't believe her, but he didn't argue. Instead he asked, "So how do we know each other?"

"It's…kind of a weird story. I - what's wrong?"

He had stopped again, and was staring in confusion at something across the street - the power lines, maybe? She couldn't tell. "Li?" she asked. "What is it?"

"What?" He glanced at her, as if searching for some kind of confirmation of something. "Nothing. It's…nothing." But the worried expression didn't leave his face.

"Alright," Misaki said slowly; when he didn't offer an explanation, she continued, "We met at a party at a Chinese gangster's hotel; you were on the the catering staff. An old friend of mine was - well, trying to kill me, and you helped me get away and hide out in the women's restroom."

"I did?" he asked, nonplussed, as if _that_ was the most unlikely part of the whole scenario. "Why?"

Misaki blinked. "I don't know; you were just really nice, and helpful." He stared at her, as if by staring he could see through her words to the lie; as in the alley, she felt herself quailing beneath that angry intensity. It pissed her off.

"Do we -" he began suddenly, then just as suddenly broke off, a faint blush rising in his cheeks.

"Do we what?" Misaki prompted, her hope rising at this tiny glimpse of her Li.

"Nothing. I just thought maybe…" he looked away quickly. "Never mind."

They walked in silence for several minutes; Misaki was acutely aware of his presence beside her, and not just because of his unnerving predatory stalk. He was clearly trying to understand their relationship, and the thought that _he_ apparently thought that maybe there was something more than friendship between them had sent a blush blooming in her cheeks.

"Does any of this look familiar?" Misaki asked as they entered his neighborhood at last.

He shook his head. It looked familiar to Misaki, she realized with a start. This was the apartment building where that woman had lived, that one who'd been mixed up with the French contractors...and BK-201. Misaki had interviewed all of the residents. As they climbed the stairs to Li's apartment - 201, of all numbers - she thought back.

She remembered interviewing Li now; maybe that was why he'd seemed vaguely familiar the first time they'd met, at the hotel. He'd been quiet and reserved, and unhelpful. Much like he was acting now, come to think of it. Had he recognized her at the hotel then? If so, why hadn't he said anything? Then again, she'd been dressed completely differently, without her glasses. Maybe he hadn't.

Li fished in his pocket for a key; finding one, he fit it into the lock and turned. The door opened; but he didn't go in.

"What are you waiting for?" Misaki asked, and stepped over the threshold into a practically empty apartment. Li followed cautiously, his gaze darting to every corner. It was a bare room, even more so than she'd expect from a broke student. Aside from a few clothes hanging in the closet, there were no personal effects. "This is your place?" she asked doubtfully.

Li was still gazing around. "It looks like it." He ducked into the bathroom, then the closet, seemingly looking for something. Then he returned to the kitchen and opened the fridge; it was full of fruit and vegetables. His brow furrowed slightly. He picked a knife up off the counter and tested the edge, then set it back down and continued exploring. Exploring; more like hunting.

Misaki watched silently. A brief glance told her that not only was this place not intended to be a permanent residence, but that no one else lived here. Certainly not a young woman. A sinking feeling entered her chest; she still had no explanation for Li's abrupt change in personality, but she thought that she'd found the reason behind that sadness she'd gotten those glimpses of. Something had happened to his sister at some point in the past five years, something that had clearly devastated him. As much as she wanted her old Li back...she didn't want him to have to learn this news all over again.

He pulled opened a drawer - and froze, staring.

"What is it?" Misaki moved forward until she could see. Inside was some sort of feathered talisman on a leather lanyard.

"Mine," was all he said. Then he slammed the drawer shut.

"Okay," Misaki said, wary of the cold anger that she could see building once again. "So, you definitely live here. It...doesn't look like anyone else does though."

He was standing stock still in the center of the kitchen, bathed in the eerie orange light of the setting sun, as if he was so lost that he didn't even know how to move. "That…we have to do that sometimes. Stay apart. Never for months though."

Several minutes passed in silence; he was clearly thinking hard, struggling to remember something, anything. Misaki had no idea what to say, how to help. Even if he had been his normal self, she wasn't sure what she could tell him.

Eventually he said, "Did anything else happen at the hotel? Where you met me."

"Anything like what?" Misaki said, frowning.

"Anything that would involve the police. I mean, why were you there."

"Oh. I was there because my friend invited me; it was her birthday. But actually, something did happen - a contractor slaughtered half a dozen of the hotel owner's bosses, and another contractor broke in to steal a Gate artifact."

He nodded minutely, as if that was a perfectly reasonable thing to have happen at a birthday celebration. "Who were the contractors?"

"What difference does that make?" That was something that she might accidentally let to slip to Li, despite the fact that it was classified; but this stranger wasn't Li. And furthermore, he had a preexisting knowledge of contractors. She needed to figure out what was going on and help Li get his memory back, but how far should she go?

Well, it wouldn't hurt to test the waters a little; he seemed to think it was relevant, in any case. "It was Messier code VI-952 and BK-201," she said, watching his face carefully. At the latter Messier code, his entire posture relaxed. An odd reaction, considering the contractor.

"Have you heard of either of the before?" she asked.

He shrugged darkly. "I've heard of a lot of contractors. Did you…arrest them?"

She shook her head. "BK-201 nearly killed VI-952; we thought he was dead, actually, but his body was stolen from the morgue and his star never fell. I got a shot off at BK-201 -" Li's shoulders tensed - "but he jumped out the window and escaped."

"He?" Li asked sharply.

She nodded. "Yes; why?"

"Nothing." But his expression clouded with worry once again, and he stared fixedly out the kitchen window. "You're sure it was BK-201 you saw?"

A dull disappointment was growing in Misaki's heart at this increasing evidence that Li was somehow mixed up with contractors. "Yes, I'm sure. BK-201 burst in through a window, knocked VI-952 across the room, the electrocuted him using a trail of blood. Then he snatched up the Gate artifact and jumped out the window again before I could shoot him. It was the first time I'd seen the Black Reaper up close, but I'm sure -"

"The Black Reaper was there too?" Li asked, his expression a mixture of confusion and relief.

"What do you mean _too_ ," Misaki said slowly. "They're the same person."

The relief was quickly being replaced by a look of something like horror. "You saw a _man_ electrocute the other contractor? And it was definitely BK-201?"

"Yes; the star activity data lined up. And there was no one else there."

"That's not right," he said, as if to himself. "That's not right. What the hell is going on - _where is Bai_?"

Misaki could see the panic beginning to overtake him. On instinct, she twitched her jacket aside for better access to her weapon. "Li," she said cautiously, and once again he flinched at the name. "Look, I know this is confusing. But we'll get it sorted out, I promise. Why don't you come with me to -" But her phone rang, cutting her off.

Li's demeanor suddenly turned suspicious again. "Who is it?" he demanded coldly.

Misaki slowly pulled the phone out of her pocket. "It's my subordinate."

"Does he have information on the contractor who did this? Put it on speaker phone."

 _She_ was the one with the badge and the gun; so why did she feel as if she was the hostage here? His hand was straying towards the knife on the counter, she realized with a jolt, suddenly acutely aware of their differences in size and strength. "Alright," she said, and hit the button for speaker without taking her eyes from his.

"Saitou," she said, "did you find him?"

"EH-384," Saitou said. "The doll network picked him up exiting Shinjuku station, heading north. We're on our way there now."

But Li was already moving. He was gone before Misaki had even had time to register that he was lunging for the door and not for her. She dropped the phone with a clatter and pulled her gun, heart pounding - but it was too late. "Shit," she muttered. Stopping only long enough to grab the phone, she darted out the door after him.

He had a head start, and he was faster. How did he even know where to go? Then she remembered that they'd passed the station on their way here; it was close, and with the way he'd been scanning the streets at they'd walked, no doubt he'd be able to find his way back easily.

She sprinted towards the station, her heart in her throat and her mind racing. What did Li have to do with BK-201? How much of this stranger-Li was real, and how much was the result of the contractor's attack? What would he do if he ran into EH-384? She pushed harder, feet pounding against the sidewalk. She just hoped that she wouldn't be too late.

She rounded a corner - and collided with a solid body. Even as she fell backwards, she recognized the blond contractor, his eyes wide with surprise. She landed hard on her ass, her wrist twisting painfully beneath her. "Freeze!" she shouted, scrabbling for her gun in its holster. "You're under arrest!"

But her injured hand caught in the flap of her jacket. Seeing his opportunity, the contractor abruptly glowed blue with synchrotron radiation, a ball of it already formed in his palm. She had no leverage with which to dodge, no time to pull her gun. All she could do in the split second before he attacked was watch and wait for it to happen.

Then the blue glow suddenly winked out; the contractor's expression turned from satisfied to horrified; there was a flash of blue, like a wave of light through the air - and he dropped to the ground like a sack of bones to reveal Li standing behind him.

Misaki stared for one long moment, uncomprehending as Li suddenly staggered, bracing himself against the wall, pressing his forehead into his forearm as if trying to shut out the world.

"Li?" Misaki asked tentatively.

When he looked up, the cold anger was gone from his eyes; it had been replaced by a stark hollowness. "I'm fine," he said quietly. "I - remember now."

He dropped the switchblade onto the ground, sparing hardly a glance for the contractor's corpse. The blade had been expertly slotted between the ribs to reach the heart.

"And…your sister?"

"Gone," he said curtly. Then stuffing his hands into his jeans pockets, he turned to go.

"Li, wait!" She didn't miss the tiny flinch at the sound of that name. She didn't know why she had called out; she had absolutely no idea what to say. She ought to arrest him, or at least bring him in for questioning. But instead she asked, "What we you going to ask me? In the alley, right before we were attacked."

Sadness flickered across his face for a moment, then was gone. "I don't remember," he said, and walked away.


	2. Chapter 2

Misaki drew in a deep breath and stared at the door in front of her. The numbers spelling out _201_ were so dingy that they were hard to see under the lightless overhang of the roof. But she knew that she was in the right place - she just didn't know what she was doing here.

It was a bad idea. In fact, she should probably turn around right now and head home, or back to the office. But she was already here. And there was a light on in the curtained window; he was probably home. Chances were that he already knew that she was outside, judging from the alert paranoia that he'd displayed the day before.

She'd spent most of the day, and the previous night, trying to put together everything that had happened yesterday. The frustrating thing was that she had a lot of guesses, but she didn't _know_ anything. Not the right things, at least: She knew that his being a student was a lie. She knew that he had knowledge of contractors, specifically BK-201. She knew that yesterday he had a killed a contractor without a second thought.

She also knew that once he'd regained his memories, all of that anger that had been brimming just below the surface had turned to sorrow, and he'd walked away from her looking more lonely than anyone she had ever seen.

At last, she raised her hand and knocked. There was no answer. She knocked again, a little louder. Still no answer, but this time there was a sound like a scuffing of feet. It didn't quite sound like it had come from inside, but there was definitely no one else on the walkway with her.

"Li?" she called softly. "It's Kirihara. I just wanted to talk. About yesterday. I'm not armed; I don't even have my phone." All she had was her badge (she felt naked without it) and her car keys.

Again, there was no answer. Well, it could have been worse, she supposed, if he really was who she suspected - but didn't _know_ \- him to be. Coming here had been a stupid risk.

But as she turned to go, she heard that scuffing sound again, and a quiet, flat voice: "I'm on the roof."

"What?" Misaki took two steps backwards to the railing and craned her head up; but the edge of the roof was blocking her view beyond.

"Hang on, I'll come down." He didn't sound very enthusiastic about it.

"No, stay there - I'll come up." She glanced around at the dark, narrow walkway; there was no staircase or ladder in sight. "How did you get up there?"

"Stand on the rail and use the brace at the top of the post," he called down; then he added, with a hint of the awkward Li-ness that she was more used to hearing, "Are you sure you...?"

"I can do it, hang on," she said, irritated. Cursing herself for being an idiot but unwilling to back down now that she'd committed herself, she grabbed the post at the corner of the walkway and climbed onto the railing. From this extra height she could see him now, crouched at the edge of the roof and watching her with an expression of mixed concern and bemusement. The top of the post stood above the roof a few inches, ending in a decorative sort of knob; Misaki grabbed it with one hand, the edge of the roof with the other, and heaved herself up.

Or at least, attempted to. Halfway up she realized that she didn't have enough strength to pull herself all the way. Hanging awkwardly, she tried to at least hold herself in place while she attempted to get her foot wedged into the brace that Li had mentioned. But her shoulders, used to the pulling motion of swimming, weren't at all prepared to hold her weight in place for so long. She felt her arms start to give and gritted her teeth.

Then Li was suddenly at her side; he grasped her upper arm and supported her weight while she shifted position and got her foot up.

"Thanks," she said breathlessly as she scrambled onto the roof.

He let go as soon as she was up, and shrugged; then half-walking, half-crouching, he climbed up to the peak and over the other side. Misaki followed, the shingles sagging and protesting under her weight.

"Are you sure the roof isn't going to collapse?" she asked nervously.

"Stand on the joists," he said without looking back at her.

 _What the hell are joists?_ The roof looked perfectly uniform to her in the dark...but as she tested one section with a foot, wobbling awkwardly and forcing herself to not look down at the street, she realized that some places were firmer than others. She followed one such trail over the peak of the roof to where Li had settled, feet flat on the shingles but lying back with his hands behind his head, staring up at the sky. Misaki sat carefully beside him and wrapped her arms around her knees.

He'd chosen the side of the roof that faced the Gate, she noticed. Not that you could really tell; the camouflaging surface blended in well with the night lights of the city and the stars beyond.

"It's a nice night to be out," she said. It was warm, with enough of a breeze that the air was pleasantly comfortable. "Do you sit up here a lot?"

"Sometimes," he said, still looking up at the stars. "When I don't want to be found. No one ever thinks to look up here."

Misaki followed his gaze. "It's strange," she said, "but even though most of my life is focused on the stars, I hardly ever take the time to stop and actually _look_ at the sky." She paused, but when he made no sign of wanting to pick up the conversation, continued, "I remember what it was like before the Gates. Here in the city you couldn't see any of the old stars. These may be fake, but they're bright. I like that."

"My family used to go up to the mountains to stargaze," Li said. He sounded tired; there was no trace of the usual placid cheerfulness that she'd formerly associated with Li. But the words sounded more true than anything he'd said to her before. "I used to know all the constellations."

"I never learned any constellations," Misaki said. "And these stars move too often establish any sort of familiarity." They were silent for a few minutes; then Misaki said, "I'm a little surprised to find you still here. I thought, after yesterday…well, I thought you might decide to leave town." She was glad that he hadn't, though she couldn't say why.

"I thought about it," he said, still gazing up at the stars instead of turning to her. "I expected to see you last night. And not alone. But you didn't show up, so I didn't see a reason to leave."

She picked at a loose seam on the side of her shoe. "I thought about it. But I have nothing to tie you to any crimes. And yesterday…maybe you were just trying to get your memory back through any means possible. But maybe you were just trying to save me. You did save me - getting hit with that contractor's power would have been a complete disaster, especially if I lost five years' worth of memories like you did." All of her knowledge of her various cases, all her experience with contractors, all her police training - Section Four would have taken a major hit. Her team was perfectly competent at carrying out orders and digging into investigations, but they depended on her leadership.

"That was probably the point," he said offhandedly.

"It's looking that way," she said. After a moment's hesitation, she added, "It would have been nice to be able to arrest him and question him though." She left the comment dangling, wondering whether he would pick it up. To her surprise, he did.

"It was unlikely that his power would allow him to return the memories that he'd stolen, but there may have been a chance. If I'd been myself yesterday, I might have tried. Five years ago…I didn't take chances, five years ago."

Misaki looked down at his face; without a smile, his eyes black in the dark night, he looked older. Weary. "It seemed like you had a lot at stake," she admitted. "You were so desperate to find your sister."

He closed his eyes. "Yes. I still am."

She blinked. "But I thought…"

"I don't know what happened. She disappeared five years ago, the same time as Heaven's Gate. I'm still looking."

"I'm sorry," Misaki said, not knowing what else to say.

"Me too."

They fell silent again. The breeze had died, and it was getting a little warm. Misaki took off her jacket, then scooted down a bit so that she could lie back, tucking the jacket under her head as a cushion. It was like another world up here on the roof, an island floating above the busy sounds of the city below. The fake stars twinkled brightly overhead; she thought that, despite the stars, the night sky was blacker than it had been before the Gate. But she couldn't remember well enough what it had looked like before.

"Li, can I ask you something?" she asked eventually. "You don't have to answer; but if you do, will you tell me the truth?"

He turned his head and looked at her then, the fake stars reflected distantly in his eyes, his brow slightly furrowed. "Alright."

She didn't think that he would answer her; but she had to ask. "When I ran into you yesterday...well, I've been running into you a lot lately. Do you have some kind of order to follow me?" It was the only logical explanation that she could think of. Yesterday, she'd been willing to bet money that the man beside her was BK-201. But the more she thought about it, the less sense that made. He'd been so confused at her statement that the contractor was a man and the same person as the Black Reaper. He'd been so emotional over his sister - he still was; he was just much better at hiding it now. But regardless, it _was_ clear that he worked for whatever organization employed the mysterious contractor.

"No," he said. "I had orders to track down that contractor too. That's why I was in that neighborhood."

 _So he was dead regardless_ , she wanted to ask, but didn't. "And all the other times we've run into each other?"

He shrugged, and turned back to the sky. "I just kind of like running into you."

"Oh," she said, glad that the darkness was hiding her blush. "I kind of like it too."

Above them, a star fell to earth.


End file.
